There, where on few external things his heart Was set, and those his own; or, if not his, 390 Subsisting under nature's stedfast law. "What other yearning was the master tie Of the monastic brotherhood, upon rock Aërial, or in green secluded vale, One after one, collected from afar, 395 An undissolving fellowship?--What but this, The universal instinct of repose, The longing for confirmed tranquillity, Inward and outward; humble, yet sublime: The life where hope and memory are as one; 400 Where earth is quiet and her face unchanged Save by the simplest toil of human hands Or seasons' difference; the immortal Soul[242] Consistent in self-rule; and heaven revealed To meditation in that quietness!-- 405 Such was their scheme: and though the wished for end By multitudes was missed, perhaps attained By none, they for the attempt, and pains employed,[243] Do, in my present censure, stand redeemed From the unqualified disdain, that once 410 Would have been cast upon them by my voice Delivering her[244] decisions from the seat Of forward youth--that scruples not to solve Doubts, and determine questions, by the rules Of inexperienced judgment, ever prone 415 To overweening faith; and is inflamed, By courage, to demand from real life The test of act and suffering, to provoke Hostility--how dreadful when it comes, Whether affliction be the foe, or guilt! 420